Spicy Indian Fish Croquette (Bengali Macher Chop)

Spicy Indian Fish Croquette (Bengali Macher Chop): This delectable croquette is bursting with flavors and almost melt in your mouth with every bite. They are a perfect delight with a hot cup of tea or can be frozen for up to a month to serve as an appetizer or a side.These Spicy Indian Fish Croquette (Bengali Macher Chop) is the perfect comfort food for us.

It’s warm, fried and bursting with flavors – definitely, hits all the right spots. Before we proceed ahead, for anyone who might need to know ‘Macher = Fish’ and ‘Chop/Chap = Fried Patty/Croquette’.

It’s one of THE MOST POPULAR snacks that you would find in the streets of Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta in West Bengal, India).

The height of the popularity is such that almost every home/restaurant or your neighborhood small bicycle store would have their own variety.

So, whenever I visit Kolkatta or any of my loved one from that region, this is a must or rather say the first thing I want to eat.

It’s spicy in every bite (don’t worry you can add that as per your taste) but with tiny bits of raisins hidden in between for that sweet surprise.

The croquette or chop as we call it is made of a mixture of fish, potatoes, basic masala, raisins, and spices. And then it’s dipped into an egg mix, dabbed with bread crumbs and fried – seriously your kitchen will smell heavenly.

(NOTE: If you’re a vegetarian and want to try this croquette, you can skip the fish and add crumbled tofu / paneer instead)

As we both love it, it’s really hard to control the number of croquettes we end up eating…so the solution to that is, I fry about 7-8 of them and freeze the rest or else you can certainly be imagining us eating 15-20 😉

I’ve made these Spicy Indian Fish Croquette (Bengali Macher Chop) so many times that now if you ask me to make them, I would just eyeball the ingredients and get on with it.

And before you ask me ‘Where’ I got the recipe from’, it’s a mix of two versions – one was given to me by a local Kolkatta street vendor and the other was given to me by my friend who hails from that city.

This looks like a good recipe to have when my family is all coming over and the grandchildren will be here. Of course I would control the heat, but I think they would love these and I know they like a little spice in their food.